


Not Quite Lost

by Brumeier



Series: Gay Paree, 1920s [1]
Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Alternate Universe - 1920s, Established Relationship, M/M, Paris (City), Post-World War I, Prompt Fill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-04
Updated: 2020-07-04
Packaged: 2021-03-05 02:40:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25077019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Brumeier/pseuds/Brumeier
Summary: LJ Comment Fic for 100 Words on the 1920s prompt:Stargate Atlantis, John Sheppard/Rodney McKay, “We ate well and cheaply and drank well and cheaply and slept well and warm together and loved each other.” (Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast)In which John and Rodney are eating/working at a bistro and Evan joins them.
Relationships: Rodney McKay/John Sheppard
Series: Gay Paree, 1920s [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1816114
Comments: 6
Kudos: 33
Collections: Bite Sized Bits of Fic from 2020





	Not Quite Lost

The sun was setting in Paris, shadows growing long up and down Rue de Pégase, and John leaned back in his chair, enjoying the late afternoon glow. He could just make out Evan on the bridge with his easel, painting the Seine at sunset. When he got to a good stopping point, he’d join them for dinner.

They were close to home today, downstairs from their apartment above the Atlantis Café. The corner table under the awning had become their regular haunt, and Rodney never had trouble moving along anyone who was foolish enough to sit there.

“How’s it coming?” John asked. He took another sip of his boulevardier cocktail, hold the lemon garnish.

Rodney just grunted back at him, still furiously writing in his notebook.

John had met Rodney after he’d come to Paris, eager to escape prohibition and his father’s expectations and the life he’d had before the war. They never talked much about it. Rodney knew John had been a pilot, John knew Rodney had worked for the War Department in some capacity. They didn’t need to know more than that. It was easy enough to see the scars left behind, both physical (in John’s case) and emotional (in Rodney’s).

Whatever it was that had driven Rodney to Paris, it hadn’t stopped his scientific mind from coming up with new theories and schematics and futuristic-sounding ponderings, which filled his notebooks.

When Rodney finally emerged, blinking into the dusk that was being lit by electric lamps and the candle in the middle of the table, he polished off his glass of wine and looked futilely for any leftover food on the table.

“You ate it all,” John said. “But we’re ready to order dinner.”

Evan joined them, tucking his easel and art box into the corner.

“Hey, fellas. You going to Athosia tonight? I heard Teyla’s performing.”

John glanced at Rodney, who still looked half in a daze. “I don’t think so.”

Some nights were meant for staying in.

They ordered dinner – sausages with spicy mustard – and then parted ways. John and Rodney went upstairs to their rooms with a bottle of wine and a bag full of pastries. With the windows open to the warm night air, they shared the food and drank the wine and loved each other as intimately as two people could.

As long as he had Rodney, John didn’t feel quite so lost.

**Author's Note:**

> I was really taken with the idea of the Lost Generation, the expats that lived in Paris during the twenties. Ernest Hemingway, Gertrude Stein, F. Scott Fitzgerald...all of them looking for some greater meaning after World War I. I had so much fun dropping John and Rodney into that world that I couldn't stop myself and kept writing more. Thankfully the prompts that day all worked in my favor.


End file.
